Advogato has heard a rumor that Caldera sent out "the letter" a few days ago, but this time to a very select list, mostly comprised of hardcore kernel hackers. They apparently got allocations in the range of 100-800 each. Also, there's an article on Slashdot on what to do with all that profit.
It's interesting that Caldera would scale back the program so much. Although the Red Hat and VA programs had their share of problems, broad participation from the community would seem like a good thing. Also, the Caldera offer appears to be US-only, which is a disappointing step backwards.
LinuxCare still hasn't announced whether they're going to be sending the "letter". From some informal chats that Advogato has had with people there, it seems like they haven't quite made up their mind. The S-1 has very similar timing to the Caldera one, so we'll probably find out soon.
Free software developers eager to risk their cash in the hot but volatile IPO market will still have the opportunity to participate in the LinuxOne program. Please do not take this as investment advice, though!
I can confirm the story, US only, have to have $2000 handy, about a 4 day time scale to do all the stuff needed (open accounts etc). Probably not a problem for a US citizen. Kind of ironic that a Finnish created OS has exactly zero public listings in Finland and nobody in .fi has been eligible for any of them.
Alan
It appears they are doing some planning for non US folks, they just hadn't said anything yet. They ask that the mail itself isnt forwarded so other than saying 'yes they are doing stuff' I wont comment further
Their US offering is through Wit Capital. They've made arrangements for international through Banc of America Securities. (these items are from their preliminary prospectus)
I can also confirm non-US participation: some of the Apache guys from outside the US have received a letter. It would appear they are a bit slower with the invitation to participate for non-US folks (probably because of the overhead).
Note that the $2000 that Alan quotes is related to the amount needed to open a Wit Capital account (e.g. US participants). It is unrelated to the Caldera IPO itself. People needed to have their Wit Capital accounts opened by *today* (well, postmarked). The account needs to be registered as participating in the IPO by the 10th. I would guess that if you haven't received a letter yet, then it may be too late.
Just found this at lwn.net/daily:
We have just received information that Caldera indeed has made their directed shares program available to international developers, particularly in Europe but including other areas of the globe. In order to do so, they are working with multiple investment firms. Wit Capital is handling only domestic US accounts, which is correct, but Bank of America Security, LLC is handling International accounts. Bank of America can be contacted at 415 627 3115, 600 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA. Account forms are due to them via FAX (415 913 5530) no later than Friday, March 10th, so move quickly if you have this opportunity. We have confirmed participation in Australia as well.
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